Removable coin-actuated apparatus for use with electricity-meters.



K. KRETZ. REMOVABLE COIN A GTUATED APPARATUS FOR USE WITH ELECTRICITY METERS.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 22, 1910.

Patented 001;. 17,1911.

unMMlnA PLANOGllM-H CU..\VA$HINGTON. n. c.

KARL KBETZ, OF STRASSBURG, GERMANY.

'REMOVABIIE COIN-ACTUATED APPARATUS FOR USE WITH ELECTRICITY-METERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1'7, 1911.

Application filed April 22, 1910. Serial No. 557,069.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL Knn'rz, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Strassburg, in Alsace-Lorraine, .have invented new and useful Improvements in Removable Coin-Actuated Apparatus for Use with Electricity-Meters, of which the following is a specification.

Hy invention relates to automatic mechanism for the supply of predetermined quantities of electric energy.

The mechanism can be applied to any electricity meter without special adaptation, and stands in direct connection with the meter so that the amount of energy consumed is measured without reference to the time during which the consumption takes place. Moreover the mechanism is provided with a rejecting device for wrong coins. The mechanism can be actuated by the insertion of any number of coins and be maintained in action for any desired length of time so that no interruption of the current takes place when the coins are released and the supply of current is a continuously uninterrupted one.

The construction of the invention is illustrated in the drawing as follows:

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section through the entire device. Fig. 2 a transverse section of the same on line AB of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a section on line C-D of Fig. 1.

The mechanism is placed in a casing a which is screwed upon the electricity meter and contains a channel casing b for the in sertion of the coins which are collected in a receptacle 0. At the orifice-of the channel casing b there is a wheel 03, a spring 6 and an opening 7". The spring 6 and the opening f are intended to reject any wrong coin, as for instance, if in place of a ten pfennig piece, a two pfennig piece is inserted which has a smaller diameter. The channel casing guides the coin on to a rotary disk 9 which is immediately connected to the registering mechanism h of the electricity meter. This disk 9 possesses a circular cavity in the rim 2 corresponding to the radius of the coin. This peripheral cavity 6 enables a lever to engage the disk 9, the end of the said lever is passing through the slott of the coin channel,

being thereby adapted to move up and down in said channel; this lever is provided with a counter-Weight m and turns upon the slot t of the coin channel rests in the coin channel above the cavity 71 of the disk g. If a coin be inserted through the channel slot into which the lever 76 projects through the opening t, then the coin depresses the lever and causes it to rest upon the slope of the cavity. By this the circuit is closed because the terminals 0 dip into the mercury cup p and the meter begins to turn in proportion as the consumption of electricity takes place. If the disk g revolved by the counting device stands in such a position that the cavity is turned sidewise to a certain angle, then the point of the lever 71') rests upon the surface of the disk g and the coin falls automatically into the holder 0. In order that no coin may stand up upon the edge of the receptacle 0, there is provided a sloping surface a which turns the coin sidewise so that it falls down into the receptacle 0. The circuit remains closed and the operation consequently proceeds until the disk 9 has made a complete revolution and the point of the lever 72 can escape from the cavity of the disk 9 under the act-ion of its counterweight m, whereby the terminals 0 are lifted out of the mercury cup 71 and the circuit is thereby broken.

I claim:

1. In coin actuated apparatus especially for use in connection with the registering mechanism of electricity meters, a suitable casing, a coin channel arranged in said casing the wall of said channel being provided throughout a portion of its length with a .slot, a rotary disk arranged in said channel so as to engage a coin traveling through the channel, said disk being connected to and actuated by said meter registering mechanism, said disk being provided with a peripheral recess or cavity adapted to receive a suitable coin, a lever weighted at one end and having its other end passing through said slot in said channel wall said end being adapted to be depressed by the passage of lever is actuated, and means associated with said axle for closing an electric circuit.

2. In coin actuated apparatus especially for use in connection with the registering mechanism of electricity meters, a suitable casing, a coin channel arranged in said casing the wall of said channel being provided throughout a portion of its length with a slot, a rotary disk arranged in said channel so as to engage a coin traveling through the channel, said disk being connected to and actuated by said meter registering mechanism, said disk being provided with a peripheral recess or cavity adapted to receive a suitable coin, a lever weighted at one end and having its other end passing through said slot in said channel wall said end being adapted to be depressed by the passage of a coin and to be forced into a position Where it may be engaged by the recess of said disk, an axle upon which said lever is mounted and adapted to turn when said lever is actuated, a pair of contact members carried bysaid axle and being electrically connected,

and a pair of mercury cups arranged to rev ceive said pair of contact members when said lever is engaged by said disk.

8. In coin actuated apparatus especially for use in connection with the registering mechanism of electricity meters, a suitable casing, a coin channel arranged in said casing the wall of said channel being provided throughout a portion of its length with a slotted opening, a rotary disk arranged in said channel adapted to engage a coin passing through the channel, said disk being connected with and operated by the said meter registering mechanism, said disk being provided with a peripheral recess or cavity adapted to receive a suitable coin, a lever weighted at one of its ends and having its opposite end passing through said slotted opening in said channel wall, said last named end being adapted to be depressed by the passage of a coin through the channel and to be forced into a position where it may be engaged by the recess of said disk, the arrangement being such that the said end of the lever is held in said recess during one complete revolution of the disk, an axle upon which said lever is mounted and adapted to turn when said lever 15 actuated, a support arranged on said axle, a pair of contact members arranged on said support and being electrically connected, and a pair of mercury cups into which said contact members plunge when said lever is engaged by said disk.

4:. In coin actuated apparatus especially for use in connection with the registering mechanism of electricity meters, a suitable casing, a coin channel arranged in said casing the wall of said channel being provided throughout a portion of its length with a slot, a rotary disk arranged in said channel in the path of a coin traveling therethrough, said disk being connected to and actuated by said meter registering mechanism, said disk being provided with means adapted to engage a suitable coin, a lever weighted at one end and having its other end passing through said slot in said channel wall said end being adapted to be depressed by the passage of a coin andto be forced into a position where it may be engaged by the coin-engaging means of said disk, the arrangement being such that the said end of the lever is held by the disk during one complete revolution of the latter, an axle upon which said lever is mounted and adapted to turn when said lever is actuated, a pair of contact members carried by said axle and being electrically connected, and a pair of mercury cups arranged to receive said pair of contact members when said lever is engaged by said disk.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

KARL KRETZ.

WVitnesses Smermnn HAUSER, CARL W. SOHMITT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

